]]>You’ve been waiting in feverish anticipation for months, carefully crafting your prediction ballots and getting ready for thebig night. Now, the wait is over, and the 2012Independent Spirit Awards are finally here! Here are all the big winners, so you can finish up your office Independent Spirit pool. Hope you won big!

]]>http://www.screenjunkies.com/movies/movie-news/what-youve-all-been-waiting-for-the-2012-independent-spirit-awards/feed/0The Independent Spirit Awards (AKA The Hipster Oscars) Explainedhttp://www.screenjunkies.com/movies/movie-lists/the-independent-spirit-awards-aka-the-hipster-oscars-explained/
http://www.screenjunkies.com/movies/movie-lists/the-independent-spirit-awards-aka-the-hipster-oscars-explained/#commentsTue, 21 Feb 2012 19:44:18 +0000http://www.screenjunkies.com/?p=245712If Billy Crystal found his way to this awards show, they would shoot him on sight.

]]>Since slamming the Oscars for being a self-congratulatory, bloated mess is now more fashionable than actually discussing the awards, many film purists are looking for an avenue that champions the films themselves rather than the industry and studios that make them.

Since 1984, the Spirit Awards have existed to reward actors and filmmakers that existed outside the world of big-budget Hollywood productions. 28 years ago, when the awards were first introduced, the rift between independent cinema and Hollywood fare was much larger than it was today, so the likelihood of any overlap between the Oscars and the Spirit Awards was almost unthinkable.

Today, a gap still exists, albeit a narrower one, thanks to increased access to independent films and the general mainstreaming and adoration of all things indie. So the night before the Oscars, the other Hollywood gets dolled up in their pixie dresses and blazers and sneakers to bestow some recognition on the filmmakers that are just too damn cool for the Oscars.

Yeah, they got Franco.

To give you an idea of how the Spirit Awards have gradually become more mainstreamed, this year’s host is Seth Rogen, a huge Hollywood star with enough of that slacker credibility to reassure everyone that, yes, they’re all very cool for being in attendance.

The Awards

The recognition given out by the Spirit Awards closely mirrors the Oscars in its prestige categories (Best Director, Best Feature, Supporting and Lead awards for Males and Females, etc). However, instilled with the spirit of independent cinema, the awards also showcase first-time directors, first-time screenwriters, as well as an award for the best feature made for under $500,000.

Of course, the Spirit Awards don’t have the huge backing or TV contract that the Academy Awards do, so despite being all “indie,” they bear names such as the Audi Someone to Watch Award, the Nokia Truer Than Fiction Award, and the Jameson Find Your Audience Award.

It's not an awards show unless you have a pregnant Natalie Portman in attendance, which is why the Oscars pay someone to knock her up every year.

One reason the sponsors are necessary is that, in addition to bragging rights, the aforementioned awards all come with grants that allow the filmmakers to keep doing their thing. So while having sponsors for independent cinema awards may seem a little counterintuitive, it’s done so that the recipients can keep staying independent and away from those godforsaken Hollywood studios.

The Nominees

Again, you might see a little overlap here with the Oscars, as the Academy Awards are allowed to pick from all films, regardless of how they were produced or distributed, while the Spirit Awards stick with films made outside of major studios.

BEST FEATURE50/50BeginnersDrive
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Like the Golden Globes, liquor is served during this show, giving it a peppier, more spontaneous feel. Futher, the Spirit Awards are a banquet-style ceremony, giving the affair a more casual feel than a seated theater awards show would have. Given the shoestring budget inherent with an indie awards show, the ceremony cuts out the superfluous sketches and prdocutions, just leaving hosts and awards. While this might sound a little dry, what it does is allow the people on stage (who are really the ones being celebrated) to spend a little more time entertaining the crowd, rather than moving through forced unfunny skits. Also, it caps the ceremony at two-and-a-half hours, which is about ninety minutes less than the Oscars.

So, if you just LOVE awards shows, but think the Oscars have become a self-important overblown mess (because it has), give the Spirit Awards a whirl. You may have a hard time getting your friend to fill out a Spirit Awards pool, but you’ll be able to sit through the event without getting bedsores, and you might even learn a little bit about film, which is something the Academy gave up on a long time ago.

]]>http://www.screenjunkies.com/movies/movie-lists/the-independent-spirit-awards-aka-the-hipster-oscars-explained/feed/0james francoYeah, they got Franco.Independent Spirit Awards ShowIt's not an awards show unless you have a pregnant Natalie Portman in attendance, which is why the Oscars pays someone to knock her up every year.johnny weirOh. The Spirit Awards often have figure skater Johnny Weir in attendance. Advantage: Spirit AwardsSpirit Award Winners Last Oscars Indicator That Isn’t The Oscarshttp://www.screenjunkies.com/movies/movie-news/the-2011-spirit-award-winners-last-oscars-indicator-that-isnt-the-oscars-themselves/
http://www.screenjunkies.com/movies/movie-news/the-2011-spirit-award-winners-last-oscars-indicator-that-isnt-the-oscars-themselves/#commentsSun, 27 Feb 2011 08:36:52 +0000http://www.screenjunkies.com/?p=30543More awards, more gift baskets, more crying losers.

]]>The Independent Spirit Awards are designed to shed light on the lesser, more independent films that are released each year – so of course it makes sense that they also serve as a predictor of the most mainstream awards ceremony in all of Hollywood. Or does it? It could be that since the requirements to be considered an “independent film” are somewhat stringent (see the decreased number of nominated films compared to the Oscars as an example), this isn’t any better a predictor than tea leaves or fortune cookies. Anyway, here’s a list of the major winners:

Interesting stuff — we’ll see if these three movies can do anywhere near as well at the Oscars, given that they have so much more competition. You can get a complete list of all the winners over at IMDb.